L-R Ruby Flores and Rain Valdez act out a scene during a rehearsal for a play entitled “Choosing Us.” The play is from Evolve Theatre, a new company making its debut on March 18 at the Long Beach Playhouse and this first production is about the transgender community. Long Beach March 12, 2016. (Photo by Brittany Murray / Press Telegram)

L-R Ruby Flores and Rain Valdez act out a scene during a rehearsal for a play entitled “Choosing Us.” The play is from Evolve Theatre, a new company making its debut on March 18 at the Long Beach Playhouse and this first production is about the transgender community. Long Beach March 12, 2016. (Photo by Brittany Murray / Press Telegram)

L-R Rain Valdez and Byron Scott Adams act out a scene during a rehearsal for a play entitled “Choosing Us.” The play is from Evolve Theatre, a new company making its debut on March 18 at the Long Beach Playhouse and this first production is about the transgender community. Long Beach March 12, 2016. (Photo by Brittany Murray / Press Telegram)

Director Ryan Weible shares a video with the understudy cast during a rehearsal for a play entitled “Choosing
Us.” The play is from Evolve Theatre a new company making its debut on March 18 at the Long Beach Playhouse and this first production is about the transgender community. Long Beach March 12, 2016. (Photo by Brittany Murray / Press Telegram)

Kenny Allen remembers the exact moment that sparked his passion for activism. He was appearing in a student production of Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons” at San Ramon Valley High School in Danville.

The now 22-year-old was portraying the eldest son in the family drama, who through his sobs screams “You can be better” during an emotional scene at the heart of the 1947 play.

“It was this moment — because that was my character and I had to go through everything that that character was going through — that it became a personal motto for me,” said Allen, who could still pass for a high school senior thanks to his boyish looks.

Now the San Francisco native and new Long Beach resident hopes to be the best activist he can be by using theater to spark social change with a new company called Evolve Theatre, which he co-founded with his former high school theater arts teacher.

Allen and 37-year-old company co-founder Ryan Weible, who recently moved from the Bay Area to Canoga Park, will mark the debut of their new company on March 18 at the Long Beach Playhouse with a play called “Choosing Us.”

The drama takes a personal look at the transgender community. It runs through March 26.

“We really want to be an organization that’s responding to what’s happening in the moment,” Weible said. “We’re there to answer theatrically the questions of the times.”

The show is part of the Playhouse’s Collaborative Season. The company’s first play will include a transgender and cisgender (those whose gender matches their sex) cast as well as two of the three playwrights in the lead roles, which reflects the company’s goal of giving a voice to the communities they explore onstage.

“It’s really important in all the work that we’re doing that we let the community speak for itself,” said Allen, who earned his bachelor’s in Theatre Arts from Cal State Fullerton. “We don’t want to pretend that as straight white cisgender men that we can speak for them.”

The commissioned play was written by Vanessa Espino, Rain Valdez and Lino Martinez.

It covers two disparate aspects of the transgender experience with separate story lines that follow a pair of characters, each going through a different journey.

Daniel, portrayed by Martinez, is just starting to go through his transition while Mia, played by Valdez, is a successful photographer who realizes later in her life that she has to return to her roots.

Each story line reflects the writer’s own life experiences.

“To a certain degree, yes, it is kind of autobiographical,” said Valdez, a writer, actress and filmmaker who has worked in post-production for numerous films.

She’s also a director’s assistant on the Emmy-winning TV series “Transparent.”

“I’ve had a long-standing career in the film industry as a producer and actress, and a lot of people didn’t know that I was trans,” she said. “I kept that information hidden because I thought it was a liability, I thought that it would prevent me from getting work. I was afraid of discrimination.

“I, too, also recently in the last couple of years was starting to come out and tell people my truth, and that’s what the character goes through as well in this play,” she added.

Weible, who holds a master’s in educational theatre from New York University, said Evolve decided to focus its first play on the transgender community after the suicide of transgender teen Leelah Alcorn.

Weible said he was compelled to pursue this topic following the suicide of one of his former students who was dealing with her own identity issues.

“For me personally, it just sort of made me feel like that needed to be the focus of this first piece,” Weible said. “In particular, I wanted a piece that would speak to young people who are dealing with their identity and to present the journey each person goes through and to find beauty in knowing that you’re just like anyone else.”

Allen and Weible hope that Evolve’s own journey will eventually lead them to produce several plays every year with stories that come directly from the communities they are hoping to cover.

“I think that’s a huge tenet with what we’re trying to create with Evolve in that we’re trying to be the catalyst, the venue through which communities who may not otherwise have a venue to tell their story can tell their stories,” Weible said.

So far Allen said they are looking at tackling such issues as housing, language and immigration.

It will all depend on ideas they gather from community groups and regular people interested in having their voices heard.

But no matter what topics they end up covering, they hope that telling real stories can bring about real change.

“We firmly believe that theater has great power for (creating) positive social change,” Weible said.

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.